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Sunday, August 12, 2012

Cell phones and middle school

The begging has begun for a cell phone. Apparently everyone else in the class has a phone and my child is completely out of the loop. Of course they aren't supposed to be texting (but they do) and definitely not sending pictures (even though they are taking them), but they have phones.

At this point I am still looking for the cell phone that has enough protection on it that I feel comfortable putting it into my child's hands. The service providers have some programs, but it seems to err on the side of tracking rather than preventing.

At Blogher 12 I saw an app from NQ Mobile that looks like it takes parental controls seriously. Most apps are more concerned with security than usability, but this one starts to address them in a parent-oriented manner. Instead of a phone being a way to get unsupervised access to the Internet, the app has the ability to block apps.

Like texting, and blogging.

The kids in my child's class won't be happy when I get the word out on this protection. But their parents -- will be. Now if only I could get it on the Kindle Fire, too.